When using electrically-steerable flat-panel antennas for satellite communications, there is often a need to provide communications links with performance that cannot be achieved with a single aperture. This may often be the case when there is a weak signal from the satellite. When this occurs, an antenna trying to receive the signal from the satellite may not have a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is sufficient enough for the antenna to achieve a lock onto the satellite signal. A ground terminal's ability to receive high bit rates depends on that terminal's ability to have a high gain-to-noise temperature (G/T) antenna.
Radio frequency (RF) combining is known in the art. For example, in the area of cellular, RF combining has been used in Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) deployments. Similarly, RF combining has been used in satellite combiners.